


Bit by Bit

by AndreaLyn



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: M/M, Summaries and pairings found in chapter notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 3,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24841666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndreaLyn/pseuds/AndreaLyn
Summary: A collection of my shorter Tumblr inspired fare.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 23
Kudos: 62





	1. rival assassins (on a train) - malex

**Author's Note:**

> This is my collection of shorter pieces from Tumblr prompts. For the longer ones, you can find those in the "Over the Mountains & Under the Stars" collection, but these are more the bite-sized morsels.

This is what happens when the agency doesn’t check to see if anyone else has taken a hit out. Michael eyes Alex Manes across the carriage of the overnight train, glances to the singular bed, and then out to the hallway.

“You can sleep out there,” Alex says curtly. “I’d prefer it. I wouldn’t get grease on my clothes.”

Michael bristles because he’s greasy because he’s been working on the train engine to get it to stall so they can get a clear shot at their target. It figures that he and Alex are both here to kill Noah Bracken, but they’d called truce when they realized that they could _both_ collect the cash by staying quiet about the other being present.

Plenty of ears and fingers as proof to go around.

“In that case,” he says, and burrows into the bed, purposely shoving his body up against Alex’s nice clean pajamas to get them _filthy_ (since he hadn’t changed since he’d put the timer on the engine to go off in twelve hours).

His smug facade shatters like a hammer going through glass when pressing this close to Alex reveals a few things.

One, his body is so damn warm and inviting.

Two, his pajamas just might be _silk_.

And three, Alex definitely, absolutely, completely has a hard-on and seeing as no one came in for a fluffing or turndown service, Michael is pretty sure he knows who that’s for. His smile grows and the smugness returns swiftly, even as Alex tries to squirm away.

“Hey,” Michael murmurs. “We’re already working together on this gig. What do you say we take that feud that’s between us and put something else there instead?”

Alex glances skywards, like he needs to pray to some kind of deity for patience, but he’s still plenty interested from the feel of it.

“One time thing.”

“Sure,” Michael says breezily. “Tell yourself whatever you want.”

So long as it doesn’t stop them from having a good time, Alex can tell himself all the lies in the world. 


	2. mylex aladdin au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex has a magic lamp, a prince to woo, and a hot genie to help him along the way.

How is it that Alex has a genie and everything he could want in the world, but he feels so miserable?

“It’s because you’re ignoring who you really are.”

Alex glowers at him. “Why can you read my mind?” he demands of the hot genie with a ridiculous eight-pack, who’s wearing nothing but a pair of sheer pants and making Alex absolutely livid that he can’t even woo a prince away from his palace. Now, he’s staring at Kyle the Genie, who wants to make his life better.

Instead, Alex feels awful.

“I’m not reading your mind, I can just see that you’re miserable,” Kyle says, sitting down beside him, plucking the fancy clothes off Alex’s frame. “You’re not this guy. Why do you think Prince Michael _wants_ this guy?”

“Because I’m not some poor guitar player now!” Alex protests. “I can give him everything. Magic carpets, gold, riches, I…”

He trails off, frustrated, thinking about how Michael hadn’t even given him a second look as Prince Alexander, but he’d given him the most incredible connected, needy looks when they’d been running around the city together when Michael had snuck out of the palace. 

“What makes you think he wants any of that? Look, I know you’ve got a few wishes left, but can I give you some free advice?”

Alex stares up at him and nods, knowing he doesn’t have much of a choice.

“Be you. You don’t need any wishes for that. Go sneak into the palace, play guitar, hang out with him,” Kyle says. “And save your wishes for something good, huh?”

He’s hot and he’s smart. 

It’s a shame that Alex is already in love with a prince, because otherwise, he can definitely see himself falling for a genie. 


	3. fake relationship (on a game show)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What better time to realize your fake relationship is real, than on national television?

“Aw, honeycakes, you’re so good to me.”

Alex holds back his glare at the awful pet name, reminding himself about why they’re doing this – why else would you go on a newlywed show with your best friend? 

Because they’re offering a $50,000 prize to the winning couple and Alex knows that no one knows him better than Michael Guerin, his best friend of over ten years. The cheap pawn shop ring on his finger gleams in the studio lights, as Alex erases the answer on his little white board.

They’re doing _so_ well, too. 

It’s been four rounds of questions about their likes, dislikes, their kinks, their fantasies, and what they’re like. True, Alex and Michael had prepared before this, but he’s starting to realize as they go into the final round that maybe this isn’t just a fake relationship propped up on the shoulders of their friendship.

“All right, Alex, final three questions,” the host says. “Michael’s already answered these, so it’s your turn. First, does Michael want a family? Second question, what’s Michael’s idea of a perfect date? And third, we asked Michael what his favorite part of you is. What did he say?”

Alex scribbles down his answers with ease. There’s _no_ hesitation, no problem, and as he stares down at his answers, he realizes that he’s not faking any of this. 

“Are you ready, Alex?”

Alex stares at Michael, his mouth parted as he stares at his answers. “Michael wants kids, he even wants to start one of those awful garage bands.” Michael’s gaze is soft, a longing and a yearning in his expression that Alex feels he’s seen before, but has never been able to name.

Now, he can and it’s _need_ , a level beyond friendship.

“Perfect date, he’d want to grab a drink and maybe go to the scrapyard and hang out.” His heart is pounding, and that final question. He sees the way Michael licks his lips and he thinks, he thinks he knows. “His favorite part of me is my faith in people, even if they don’t deserve it.”

“It’s what I love about you,” Michael admits, sounding raw as he turns his board around. 

Streamers, balloons, and confetti are fluttering down from the ceiling as the host announces excitedly that they’ve won the money. Michael can put a down payment on a house, Alex can take a trip around the world, but he’s ignoring it all. 

He crosses the stage, a hand on Michael’s elbow, gripping him in.

“Michael…”

“Is telling you that I’m in love with you while faking it on TV a good move?” he whispers, covering his mic with his palm, giving Alex a sheepish look. It’s like he’s worried that Alex is going to be mad.

“I don’t know,” Alex whispers. “Is confessing I’m in love with you right back one?”

The producers must be gleeful, because Michael grabs his hair and yanks him in for a kiss with confetti speckling their hair, Alex’s body surging against Michael’s as they’re pulled flushed together for a first kiss broadcast on national television. 


	4. bed cuddling (little spoons)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a drunken day out, Alex rearranges the sleeping situation.

“Over, move over.”

Alex groans as he’s woken from his drowsy state, blinking and peering up at Michael from where he’s being shoved over. He’s annoyed, grabbing the pillow, but moving to make space without question. When Isobel suggested they go to an Oktoberfest event as _friends_ (all of them), Alex should have bailed.

Because how is he supposed to cope with a sleepy, beer-drunk Michael getting all handsy with him while crawling in behind Alex. On the other bed, Isobel and Max are sleeping head to toe, and Liz and Maria and Rosa have the other bedroom.

Kyle had been the smart one, citing work.

“Michael…” Alex hisses, when Michael grabs him and hauls him in to be his little spoon.

“Both of you,” Isobel groans. “If you’re going to have sex, can you do it quietly? I can already feel my hangover.”

Max says something that’s probably meant to be English, but comes out as garbled nonsense. 

Alex wants to insist that he’s too tired for sex, but he knows it would just get further griping from the Evans’, so he shuts up and turns over, giving Michael a gentle nudge of his knee into his ass. 

“Wha…?”

“You hate being big spoon,” Alex reminds him in a soft whisper, not wanting to get into more trouble. “C’mere,” he says, once he’s got them rearranged and can wrap his arms around Michael, draping his good leg over his hips to tug him back into his body, putting one of the pillows on the other side to bracket Michael in. 

“Thanks, Alex,” Michael mumbles, letting out a sigh so serene that Alex is suddenly jealous of how relaxed he is – right up until he remembers that he’s the reason he is.


	5. rock star pining

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Michael's going to make a move with the hot rock star.

“This is sad.”

Michael ignores Isobel, his attention fixed on the performer on stage. He’s been coming to this bar for ages, all because of the indie act called Alex Manes. It’s the third performance of the month, and he’d turned up hours early so he could get the table at the front. “Hey, shut up, he’s great.”

“Admittedly, yes,” Isobel sighs, “but you pining like this…” She gestures to the single red rose on the table. “Are you _finally_ going to give that to him tonight?”

Michael ignores her, his nerves wild as he sits through Alex’s set – four incredible songs that he knows all the words to. And he swears, he _swears_ that Alex keeps staring at him and singing to him. Michael’s leaning towards him like a flower soaking up the sun, and by the end, he knows that tonight’s the night.

He lingers until they’ve cleared up the instruments, waiting for Alex to turn and see him. When he does, the reaction is perfect, his cheeks flushed as he looks at Michael, then the rose.

“Hey,” he says, and Michael swears he can see his pulse fluttering. “Front row guy.”

“Rock star,” he teases in return, toying with the rose. “You’ve noticed me?”

And as much as Michael’s in love with Alex’s music and his lyrics, he thinks he’s in love with his answer even more. “You’re the only thing I ever notice when I play.” He takes the rose from Michael, turning it over in his hands. “Can I buy you a drink?”

Alex can buy him a hundred, but they’ll start with one and go from there.


	6. I Can Hold You Now, POV Flip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick glance into Michael's frame of mind during _I Can Hold You Now_.

“You think Manes is gonna give the boys the night off for the wedding in a few months?”

It’s funny how they ignore Michael now. He’s managed to make himself a part of the wallpaper by hiding in plain sight, keeping his down and his mouth shut as he works on the bomb for them. It means they get comfortable talking around him and not bothering to hide the subject.

“It’s his kid, of course they’ll be there.”

“Yeah, but it’s Alex, you know what they say about him, and besides, it’s Jesse’s guy…”

They trail off as they walk away. Michael’s grip on the wrench in his hands is deathly tight as the blood drains from his face. He’s been tortured in this prison, pressed for information, made to show his powers, and yet it all pales in comparison to the pain that lances through him at the thought of Alex Manes marrying someone else – especially if that someone is using him.

His head is still down, he’s still working, but Michael’s on the clock now. He’s got a few months to break out of here and the perfect opportunity to do it. After all, just like they said – who wouldn’t miss their son’s big day?

And in the process, leave the prison as vulnerable to a prisoner escaping as it’ll ever get.


	7. family reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael and Alex at a family reunion.

“Hey! Alexandra, get back here with the…”  
  
Alex turns to shout at his daughter some more, but she’s gone in a whirl of braided dark hair, grabbing the salad bowl to hurry outside. Almost as quickly, her twin brother is there in her place, yanking up the tongs. “Thanks Dad!” is his quick flurry, contributing to the chaos.  
  
Why the hell did he agree to a family reunion? Especially since he’s hosting it and it’s not even his side of the family.  
  
The kitchen is chaos, between the aliens they’ve met from other cities, his own family, and the other humans that are as good as. It’s almost too much noise, too much heat, _too much_ and then all of a sudden, there’s a hand on his hip that turns him into a steady presence.  
  
Michael, anchoring him to sanity, curling a hand on his hip, and bringing him to the corner of the kitchen.  
  
“You saved me,” is Alex’s appreciative exhalation.  
  
Michael grins at him, as sunny as he ever is when Alex showers him with warmth and compliments, ducking in for a too-brief kiss, and slides his palm to the small of Alex’s waist to hitch him in. “That what you call this?”  
  
“Michael,” he hisses. “Your family.”  
  
Michael sulks, making a big show of it, before he ducks in for another peck, backing away. “Spoilsport,” he grumbles, and takes the plate of steaks to head outside.   
  
The stolen kisses are barely what Alex needs right now, but he’ll treasure them, tuck them away, and come back to them later for interest and appreciation, to trade them in with Michael for something so much more.


	8. isobel & maria mindscapes (gen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria's in Isobel's head and finds a void, waiting for someone else to fill.

Maria’s lost.  
  
There’s a haze of purple and pinks, a strange wash over her, and as she turns, she feels like she’s seen it before, but it’s empty. There’s nothing here, devoid of people, devoid of emotion, and devoid of noise.  
  
Shaking off the wariness, she begins to head deeper inside, seeing someone out of the corner of her eye. It’s a flash of skin, blonde hair, and then gone. “Hello?” she calls out, continuing to walk through the abandoned space, with endless horizons, and yet a clawing and crushing press around her.   
  
Where is she?  
  
“Isobel?” she asks warily, when she sees Isobel Evans in a corner, curled up on herself. Maria creeps close and bends to rest a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention. Where is she? And how did she get here? Why is Isobel Evans curled up on herself, _naked,_ of all things.  
  
Maria tries to focus on anything else, knowing that she needs answers more than she needs to think about the lean, graceful, elegant lines of Isobel’s body.   
  
“My head,” Isobel says, her voice thin and exhausted. “We’re in my head.”  
  
“Why is it empty?”  
  
Isobel lets out a rough sobbing noise. “It’s where all my love for Noah used to be.” She turns, looking up at Maria, like she’s confused about why she’s there. Suddenly, in a flash, the guards are up and –

– and Maria inhales sharply, coming back to herself at the bar, staring at Isobel Evans from across the Pony, where she’s curled up with Michael, looking ill and surprised. When Maria catches her eye, she wonders what the hell she just got dragged into, and what’s going on.  
  
And she can’t help but wonder what it would take to fill up that space again with love, from someone else, to make it whole again.


	9. sleepy homecomings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex returns to a sleepy alien.

The radio’s been his only companion for the last twenty miles.   
  
He sings along to old country, hums to new country, and even allows himself the indulgence of a pop station or two. With the windows down, his voice carries across the crisp, cool desert air, as he makes the drive back from the remnants of Caulfield, where they’ve been making trips to dig through the rubble.  
  
It’s three AM by the time he hits the cabin and even Buffy is too tired to rouse, barely lifting her head from her dog-bed.   
  
“Good to see you too,” Alex scoffs, heading inside and sitting down on the couch to start working off his prosthetic.  
  
He’s in the middle of kneading the muscles of his thigh when he feels the warm tug from the other room, a little psychic ping. Alex ducks his head down, unable to help his smile as he reaches for his crutch to make the trip from couch to bed.  
  
“You’re lazy,” he accuses. “You develop all these new powers and you can’t even come say hello to me now.”  
  
Michael unearths himself from a veritable fortress of blankets and pillows, his curls messy and sticking in every which way. He’s not really coherent, barely awake, and Alex takes pity on him as he climbs into bed, wrapping himself around Michael from behind.  
  
“Welcome home,” Michael mumbles, wriggling back into his hold, seeking out more.  
  
Alex closes his eyes, letting the warmth of Michael’s sleepy state wash over him through their fledgling psychic open-connection, and as he breathes out, the worries from the day go with it.   
  
“Now,” Michael keeps going, grumbling and grumpy, “g’to sleep.”  
  
Alex gives a soft sound of consent, and he hums an old country song that he’d heard on the radio earlier that night until they’ve both drifted off, their minds still open to one another, sharing a peaceful dream state.


	10. barfighting alex (gen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even after everything, Alex will always defend his people.
> 
> Set post 1x13.

“What the fuck?” Liz hisses.  
  
“Alex!” is Maria’s worried voice.  
  
He staggers out of the Pony, wiping at his lip with the back of his hand. Maybe he wishes that didn’t make him feel so alive, but he’d be lying. Breathless, he presses scraped knuckles up against the wall behind the bar, where the smell of garbage permeates his nose, but even that isn’t enough to drown out the hint of acetone nearby.  
  
“Not in the mood, Guerin,” he warns.  
  
Guerin looks like he’s feigning innocence on an Olympic level, but he does keep his distance. “Just wondering why you felt the need to step in on my territory,” he comments, like he’s genuinely wondering. “I thought I had the market on Wild Pony fist fights sewn up.”  
  
Alex dabs at the blood at the corner of his cheek, scowling darkly, recalling Long’s voice, boasting to his friends about how Max Evans is dead now, and it’s only a matter of time before Ortecho gets her punishment, how Maria will eventually get bullied out, how that junkrat Guerin is a guy-fucking asshole, and how Roswell will be a better place once they’re gone.  
  
You don’t fuck with Alex’s people, even now. Even after everything.  
  
He’s still willing to take those kinds of sides.  
  
“Don’t worry,” Alex says. “You can have it back. Just felt like I needed to let off a little steam.”   
  
Guerin’s eyes slide over him and he nods, like he gets it. “Then how about you come back inside and let Liz buy you a drink.” The implication there is that he knows why Alex has been in a fight, like he’s proud of it from the hint in his voice. “And maybe I can do something about that bloody lip of yours.”  
  
If he goes back inside, he’s worried he’ll get in another kind of fight, but every part of him yearns for it. How depressing is it that it took getting in a brawl to gain back some kind of normalcy with his friends.  
  
“Maybe tomorrow,” he says, and pushes off the wall.  
  
If he lets himself have this, then it’s like things are going back to normal – and they’re not, they aren’t, even if he’s bleeding for those people, he knows it’s still not the way it used to be (the way he wants it to be).   
  
So instead, he leaves with scraped and bloody knuckles, his lip bleeding, and Guerin’s eyes on his back.


	11. kyle & alex - kindness

It’s not much, to start.

He’s the bravest, and Kyle is there for him when his war is over – little lances across the bow, things that Alex doesn’t register as anything much. Then, they become necessary. They’re an oasis, a light, and Alex seeks them out in the ever-darkening world of alien conspiracies.

The squeeze to his shoulder (I believe in you), the extra milkshake in the bunker (I’m thinking about you), and the way Kyle looks to him first for opinion (because you’re clever and important).

It’s strange to think how starving Alex had been for these little moments, right up until they’re in front of him.

So he eats them up, no longer willing to go starving when it comes to that warmth, but always knowing that after all those years on opposite sides of a childish war, they’ve made their way back around to something settled and warm, hopeful and kind.

Lucky for him, Kyle’s not willing to let him starve ever again, and those little morsels that Alex craves so badly never dry up, and only blossom and grow, feeding Alex in ways he hasn’t felt in years.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I can be found on [tumblr @ andrea-lyn](https://andrea-lyn.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
